Sales Pioneers of Pro Audio A New Feature of Industry Business
by Harry Klane, National Sales Manager, NEXO USA

Professional audio is a technology industry, but also a people business. Whether it's a multinational corporation or a small entrepreneurial operation, people have always been as instrumental as products in achieving success.

This series does not focus on the technical innovators who transform our industry through groundbreaking inventions. Instead, it profiles those who consistently and continually persuade customers to buy the products our industry develops. The challenges of this indispensable component of business attract a broad range of individuals, all of whom share an abiding interest in communication technologies and a deep appreciation of human interaction.

The "pioneer era" of pro audio began in the 1950s, when public appetite for entertainment enabled manufacturers to adapt wartime electronic technology to peacetime developments in recording and reproduction. Tape recorders were one of the first professional audio product categories: their mechanical complexity made them difficult to build outside a factory environment. Ampex was soon followed by Western Electric, Scully, 3M, and MCI. While these competitors struggled for market share, their competition expanded the industry.
Other key elements of the signal chain, like consoles and processors, were initially hand-built contraptions designed and assembled either by record company or broadcasting technicians or by part store proprietor/inventors. As manufacturing companies were created to supply standardized products based on refinements of these early designs, others began to specialize in supporting products like magnetic tape or studio monitors.

Because they were making new kinds of products, these manufacturers needed salespeople to develop new markets. Many of the intelligent and empathetic people who took on that challenge became closely identified with the companies and brands they represented. They all had some understanding of technology, were interested in communications, and possessed aggressive sales personalities. They made up the rules as they went along, using common sense to explore contracting, post-production, recording and sound reinforcement applications.
The personal histories of these sales pioneers can give us the raw material we need to fabricate the much more intricate answers needed in today's business world. We've inherited more than brand names and product categories from these founders, national and regional sales managers, marketing directors, regional representatives, dealers, and salespeople: the lessons they learned remain highly instructive and useful today.